


smells like air salonpas

by psidn



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Crushes, Friendship, Gen, Unrequited Love, collages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 17:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7900681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psidn/pseuds/psidn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Karasuno first years develop some new hobbies and strengthen their friendships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. whoever knew

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of thanks to my artists and my beta! The lovely art in chapter one is done by [Nye](http://nai-nye.tumblr.com) and [Shaa](http://s-haa.tumblr.com), respectively. My beta was [altimys](http://altimys.tumblr.com), who did a great and thorough job. Any mistakes are definitely my own!
> 
> Thanks also to:  
> everyone on the tl who put up with me constantly talking about my word sprints, even though they probably won’t be reading this.  
> [thought](http://archiveofourown.org/users/thought/) for doing real life in-person word sprints with me.  
> AND OF COURSE [sk](http://archiveofourown.org/users/toomanyhometowns) who always cheered on collage au even before it was a big bang, did online sprints with me, and kicked my ass. Thank you sk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [title (yt link)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx7JdDGGHvA)

The day after Hinata realizes he has a crush on Kageyama is a Sunday, and his mother asks him to take Natsu to the shops, because she needs to find a present for her friend’s birthday.

Natsu has been switching between piggybacking and walking by Hinata’s side. She’s hanging off his shoulders when he tells her, his words weighed down with misery, “Natsu, I think I like someone.”

Natsu gasps. “When’s the wedding?” she asks, and Hinata tears up, although not from emotion. In her excitement, Natsu delivers an enthusiastic slap to his face. The Hinata family athleticism has been passed on.

“I don’t know if… this person... likes me too,” he says, setting her back down so she can walk next to him. Her hand is small and damp, and very reassuring.

\--

When they get to the shopping district, they see Tsukishima leaving an electronics store. Or rather, Hinata sees Tsukishima leaving an electronics store while Natsu’s attention is held fast by the TVs on display. He’s dressed casually, but _nice_ casually: dark jeans and a grey sweater with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He freezes when he sees Hinata.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Hinata asks. He’s very much aware that the hoodie he’s wearing is the one he wears to school every day.

Tsukishima looks at him like he’s something dirty on the bottom of a shoe. He holds up the plastic bag he’s holding. “Buying new headphones.” He notices Natsu and narrows his eyes. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“This is Natsu,” Hinata says proudly. “And stop glaring at her!”

Natsu turns at the sound of her name, and looks up to see Tsukishima. Her eyes get big, and she gets shy, fingers grabbing for Hinata’s pant leg.

“I wasn’t doing anything of the sort,” Tsukishima says, and then adds, “What kind of big brother are you? You haven’t introduced me.”

Hinata doesn’t like listening to the likes of Tsukishima much, but it’s true. He leans towards Natsu and tells her Tsukishima is a teammate of his, and it’s okay if she doesn’t like him, really. Her eyes get even wider and she gives a small ‘hello’.

“Is he a good big brother?’ Tsukishima asks her. Hinata sees no trace of a mocking smile.

Natsu forgets her shyness immediately. “Yes!” she shouts, and then she pauses and sniffs. “Except Satsuki-chan’s brother jumps rope with her whenever she wants, and Azusa-kun’s brother lets him play on his phone, and--”

“Okay, okay,” Hinata grumbles, gently tweaking one of her stubby pigtails. “You get ten minutes on my phone when we get back home.”

Tsukishima’s already leaned down to a crouch and is holding out his own phone. Hinata gives him a scandalized look. “Don’t trick her into liking you,” he says, but it’s too late. Natsu’s looking at Tsukishima like she’s making plans to introduce a new big brother into the family.

“No thank you,” she says, very politely, at the proffered phone. She gives a sweet smile and whispers, “Can I tell you something?”

“Sure,” Tsukishima says, tucking the phone back into his pocket but not getting up.

“Hello?” Hinata says, because he can’t believe this is happening, this… this… betrayal from his own family.

“My brother is in love,” Natsu says with great solemnity, “and he’s sad about it, so can you look after him?”

Hinata closes his eyes and brings his hands to his forehead.

Tsukishima snorts. “Of course,” he says, and he sounds too serious. “Is it Shimizu-san?” He sounds bored again, so he must talking to Hinata.

“No,” Hinata snaps, and then feels very stupid at how Tsukishima’s gaze sharpens, actually curious now. It would have been the perfect excuse, and not completely made up either. He’s pretty sure everyone on the team has a bit of crush on Shimizu.

Tsukishima straightens up. “Oh,” he says, lightly, and gives a shit-eating grin. “What a pleasure it was to see you today, Hinata.”

It’s only because of days of practice that Hinata manages to hold himself back from tackling Tsukishima to the ground. “Don’t lie to me,” he bites out.

Tsukishima smirks back, then turns to Natsu. “It was very nice meeting you,” he says, seriously.

\--

It shouldn’t be such a surprise that after all the ill-omens of his weekend, Hinata has a downright awful and confusing Monday.

It starts off with coming into morning practice after Kageyama. He tries to sneak around the edges of the gym wall so that Kageyama doesn’t notice him, and Hinata can pretend he was there all along, but Kageyama has trained setter eyes.

“Hinata!” he says, marching over to Hinata and looming over him. “I win today. You better write it in your notebook.”

Hinata fishes through the pockets of his bag, grumbling the entire time. “I don’t understand why _I’m_ the one who has to keep score.”

“You’re the one who wanted to!” Kageyama looks confused and affronted.

Hinata tries not to think it’s cute. He flips to the correct page and marks down another win in Kageyama’s column. Kageyama, distrustful as he is, leans in close to make sure the numbers are right.

Kageyama reaches a hand out to tap at the notebook with a finger. Like this, his arm is pressed right against Hinata’s, and he’s close enough that Hinata can see his eyes moving up and down to track the marks on the page. _Just breathe through it_ , Hinata thinks.

“Right,” Kageyama finally says. “It’s right.”

Hinata nods in agreement, keeping quiet.

During practice, while Yachi's pushing a cart of volleyballs from one side of the gym to the other, Tsukishima gives Hinata a long, hard look, and then pointedly glances at Kageyama. Hinata squawks in indignation, which makes Yamaguchi turn at the sound, not realizing he’s in Yachi’s path. Tsukishima flings out an arm to stop the cart, but smacks Kageyama instead, and all around Hinata they fall over into a heap.

“I don't want to know!” Daichi bellows from the other side of the gym. “Just get back to practice!”

“I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,” Yachi wails, clutching the handle of her cart. “I should look where I'm going!”

“Well,” Tsukishima says. And then, “Get off me, king.”

“You get off me!” Kageyama snaps back.

“It's my fault, Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi says, waving his hands about in a reassuring manner. “Definitely! I got distracted by a strange sound!”

“I'm not strange!” Hinata shouts.

Coach Ukai steps in with Shimizu following after him. She pulls Yachi aside and helps her calm down while Coach says, “Kageyama-kun, Hinata-kun, go practice your quick. Yamaguchi-kun, Tsukishima-kun, go join the second-years in their drills. No more, whatever this was.”

Yamaguchi helps Tsukishima out of the tangle, and they go join the drills Ennoshita is leading off to the side. Kageyama picks himself up and leans over to check himself for bruises. Hinata stares at the crown of his bent head, at the whorl of dark hair.

This is not something that Hinata’s been looking forward to, the first extended amount of one-on-one time with Kageyama since his realization. He's been worrying about it since Saturday, things like, how does he normally look at Kageyama, and for what length of time? How does he usually talk, and at what speed? What volume? Where does he put his hands?

“What are you doing?” Kageyama asks, finally done and standing up straight. He puts his hands on his hips. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?”

“No,” Hinata says. “Um, maybe.”

“You need to go _before_ practice starts,” Kageyama says. “You’re wasting time otherwise.”

“I know, I know!” Hinata says, scurrying in the direction of the washrooms. “You tell me every day, I know!”

“If I tell you every day then you should remember!” Kageyama shouts back.

“Keep it down!” Daichi bellows again.

“Yes, yes,” Sugawara calls out. “We don't want to hear your couple's argument.” He lifts up a hand, wiggling the fingers on it.

Hinata freezes at that, slowly turns around to look at Kageyama. Hinata can see Tsukishima snickering and Tanaka slapping him on the back, but Kageyama's got his usual scary look on his face and doesn't seem to think there's anything weird or unusual about what Sugawara said.

Well, if Kageyama's not embarrassed by it, then Hinata won't be either.

“Okay, bye,” he says, somewhat nonsensically.

Kageyama crosses his arms and continues glaring. “Hurry up.”

\--

It's actually not that bad. Once they start practicing, it's not like he forgets Kageyama's there, since the fact that Kageyama sets for him is what makes their quick possible. It's more like he remembers the more important thing is volleyball.

It's a relief, high-fiving and shouting and caring only about spiking.

But then of course, as they're finishing up, Kageyama gives him a grin and says, “You did great,” and Hinata’s stomach gives a jolt.

\--

"It's Kageyama, isn't it," says Tsukishima.

"Huh?" Hinata says, looking up.

He's waiting on the steps outside the club room for Kageyama so that they can go to the corner store together, then split off to walk or bike home. Usually they go with the team, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi also tagging along, but for whatever reasons they're all split up this evening.

Tsukishima must be waiting for Yamaguchi himself. He's standing by the outside wall of the club room, his shoulders hunched over and his hands clasped together.

"What's Kageyama?" Hinata asks, but he's got a suspicion already. What else could the topic be, if it's about Kageyama these days? He stays quiet.

Tsukishima walks over and seats himself on the step above Hinata, pressing himself into the railing as far away as possible from Hinata. Typical.

"Your crush," Tsukishima says, without any expression on his face. "You like Kageyama, don't you?"

Hinata stares at him, trying to think of what he could possibly say to get out of this. He knows his eyes must be huge, that he must be giving himself away.

"Pretty bad taste," Tsukishima mutters, pushing up his glasses. Hinata bristles at that, ready to deny, or defend, or _something_ , but Tsukishima adds, almost too low to hear, "Me too, but with... someone else."

Hinata doesn't understand at first. Him too, what? It's not that big of deal to have crush on someone, not unless it's him too, with...

"Yamaguchi?"

Tsukishima gives him a pained look. "I didn't think you'd actually figure it out, but yeah."

Hinata throws his hands up in exasperation. "I know you think I'm dumb, but why else would you be telling me if it wasn't him? Don't glare at me like that."

Tsukishima lets out a sigh, looks at his nails, starts picking at the laces on his shoes. Finally he speaks again. "I thought you liked Shimizu-senpai. Pretty sure everyone likes her."

"Yeah but," Hinata squirms, "it's different. She's really pretty, but like, Kageyama." His face feels so hot. "I just feel, bwaaah!"

Tsukishima clicks his tongue. "Use your words," he says, and then, awkwardly, "yeah, I know."

Hinata laughs. "Wow, we have something in common."

"What, being miserable about who we like?" Tsukishima asks.

"Who do you like?" asks a voice from behind them.

Hinata and Tsukishima turn to see Yamaguchi, giving them a curious look. Even worse, Kageyama's hovering right behind him.

Hinata panics. There's no other explanation for the words coming out of his mouth. "Me! Tsukishima-kun has discovered that he thinks I'm a friend!"

Yamaguchi's mouth forms an 'o' of surprise. Kageyama gives a constipated look.

"Well," Yamaguchi says, reasonably, "I suppose it's about time."

Tsukishima only nods. "Time... marches on..." he trails off.

"So," Hinata leaps up the steps to grab Kageyama's hand to drag him off. Ugh, it's so warm and nice to hold. He lets go and grabs Kageyama's sleeve instead. "We're going to the corner store. And," a sudden stroke of inspiration comes to him, "you're both joining us!"

"What," Tsukishima and Kageyama say in unison.

"How is it any different than usual?" Yamaguchi points out. "It's just without the rest of the team."

To Hinata's delight, everyone agrees.

\--

It's nice to wake up to a new day and know that he isn't terribly alone in his situation. Tsukishima is maybe not his first choice of friend in any kind of situation, but a teammate is a teammate. It's good to have a part of Karasuno understand.

Though Hinata doesn't really agree with him about being miserable. Sure, it's not the greatest feeling in the world, knowing that Kageyama would never reciprocate his feelings (once Hinata had asked what kind of girl he liked and Kageyama had said, with a completely straight face, "Whoever my parents pick is fine," which is so far removed from what Hinata was even expecting), but Hinata has other things in his life keeping him happy. Like volleyball.

_Huh_ , Hinata thinks, as he's getting dressed. That's probably why he's an all-around happier person than Tsukishima. He has deep and passionate feelings for volleyball while Tsukishima does not. Poor guy.

At school, Hinata runs into Yachi right at the front gates.

"Woah," he says, holding his arms out to steady her. Luckily they both stay upright. He grins, "Good morning!"

"Good morning, Hinata," she chirps back. "How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good." Hinata rocks back and forth on his feet, smiling. The sun's shining bright and the air feels so clear, like he could breathe in several lungfuls at once. "I'm great, actually! I could probably jump even higher than usual today! It's a good day, isn't it, Yachi?"

Yachi blinks at him, maybe a little nervously, but her grin is wide and real when she says, "That's very good! If you already feel strong, that's a great sign."

Hinata punches the air. "Yeah! It is! So, how are you?"

Yachi's hands tighten on the straps of her backpack. "We-ell," she starts, turning towards the school entrance and walking. Hinata follows after her. "I've been thinking, we only have a few more months of this school year and the third years are all graduating."

Of course Hinata is aware of this. It's just that, it seems so far away, with so many more important events happening before graduation (games, more games), that he tries not to think about it too much.

"Yeah," Hinata says, blinking in shock at the thought that Daichi and Sugawara and Asahi won't be there. And that all the second-years will be third-years, which means that _he's_ going to be a second-year, and, oh!, there'll be new first-years--

"A lot's going to change!" he says decidedly.

Yachi nods vigorously.

Hinata smiles.

"Cool," he says.

"N-no," Yachi says. "I mean, maybe?" She shakes her head. "You're going to have, you know, all the second-years will be third-years..."

"Yeah," Hinata says.

"But!" They've stopped in front of her classroom door, and she looks around from side to side as though she doesn't want anyone else to hear. "I'm going to be all alone."

She looks so sad, so worried, that at first Hinata doesn't register the words. Then he remembers, Shimizu is a third-year, and there are no second-year managers.

"You're going to be all alone!" he gasps.

Yachi slowly nods.

"You need-- you need to do something about it!"

She bites her lip and punches her fist into her open hand. "I'm going to work hard to find some first-years to join as managers. But other than that, what can I do? There's so much I still don't know about volleyball, and I'm always asking questions to Shimizu-senpai, but! She knows so much! And she's athletic too, I've never been athletic! Oh, and then, if I _do_ get some first-years, how am _I_ supposed to train them? Oh no," she wails. "I have to start running every day, otherwise I'll never keep up with them! What if they're all really strong?"

"What do you mean?" Hinata whispers. "Giants as managers?"

"Uh huh," Yachi says, nodding. She pales while staring at something over Hinata's shoulder. "Like that!" she shouts, as Hinata whirls around in fear to see a large wriggling sweater walking towards them.

Yamaguchi's head pops out of the collar, hair ruffled. "It's just me, Yachi-san," he says apologetically. "Sorry for the scare, I just saw the both of you across the hall and I had something to tell you so I was coming over here, but I was also putting my sweater on at the same time." He stops to take a deep breath. "Good morning!"

"Oh," Yachi says weakly. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Yamaguchi-kun!" Hinata adds.

Yamaguchi nods, his head bobbing up and down. "Good morning. Um," he tugs on some of his hair, "I was thinking, you know, you help Hinata and Kageyama a lot with schoolwork, and Tsukki keeps avoiding it--"

"Yeah," Yachi says sadly.

Hinata watches, rapt. He feels a change brewing.

"I can help you with that, if you want," Yamaguchi says, all in a rush. "Like with math. I'm not as good as Tsukki, but I'm... more patient."

"Oh!" Yachi claps her hands together and beams at Hinata and Yamaguchi. "If you don't think it would distract you from--" Yamaguchi shakes his head, "-- that would be really wonderful!"

"Yamauchi-kun, that's so awesome!" Hinata says, and slaps him on the back. "I bet Kageyama will be happy too!"

"Er, if you say so," Yamaguchi says. "We should get to class now. See you at practice!"

When Hinata turns away from waving at him, he sees that Yachi's smiling.

"See?" he says, smiling widely back at her. "It's not that bad a day at all."


	2. they don't do it like my clique

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [title (yt link)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h19x8Wqpkq8)

Since the exams Kageyama needed to pass to go to summer training camp in Tokyo are history now, he figures it doesn't matter if he starts sleeping in class again. The air's really warm and burns his cheeks, so he's tempted to press them against the cool top of his desk. But he knows better than that. He crosses his arms and lets his head nod, his eyelids drop.

He has a strange half-dream where he's on the court, setting the ball, and it's so perfect-- it's probably the best set he's ever done. Everyone cheers. He jerks up and opens his eyes, paws at his desk, and settles again into his drifting thoughts. The volleyball court is much more crowded than it should be. His Karasuno teammates are there, but so are his Kitagawa Daiichi teammates, and they all look so happy. They tell him: you're doing great, good job, wanna play volleyball, wanna hang out, wanna practice, you're so good, so helpful, so considerate.

He wakes up disoriented and spends the rest of the day feeling muzzy and content, but also like he should be dreading something.

Hinata slaps him on the back while he's zoning out during practice, and Kageyama screams very loudly in the suddenly quiet gymnasium, "I'm a normal person!"

"Uhhh," Hinata says, squinting. Kageyama does not appreciate the skepticism.

He sees Tsukishima covering his mouth with his hand. He looks happy enough to piss himself. _Good_ , Kageyama thinks viciously. _Then everyone will know he is a child_.

"Well," Hinata says with false buoyancy, "I'm sure we'll forget that in a few years. High-five, Kageyama!"

Kageyama high-fives him because there's really no other way he's going to recover from this.

\--

In the club room after practice, any residual effects of his dream leave him thanks to the incredibly uncomfortable conversation that's happening.

"Oh yeah," Nishinoya says, "Definitely once a day, two or three if it's a good day, if you know what I mean." He gives Tanaka an exaggerated wink and they both laugh themselves sick.

"Is that really something to brag about," Kinoshita says. "Anyone can jerk off."

"Oh! Oh! You said it!" Tanaka shouts. Kinoshita looks up and gives the ceiling a good long stare.

Kageyama sees Narita poke his head out of his school sweater, a sly smile on his face. "We're all speaking to a man with _experience_ ," he says. "Kinoshita kissed a girl today."

"Hey!" Kinoshita yelps, as the room descends into chaos.

Kageyama turns towards his locker and decides to ignore the rest of whatever's happening. He doesn't come to practice to _gossip_. Out of the corner of his eyes he sees Hinata hopping from one foot to the other, giving Kageyama long looks then quickly turning to stare at the second-years.

"Hinata," Kageyama says. "Don't listen to them."

"What!" he says. "But... aren't you curious? About, you know," his eyes grow wide, " _kissing_?"

"No," Kageyama says. He's never thought about it. "Don't trust them anyway, Nishinoya-san says he jerks off every day and that's stupid, no one does that."

"Uh," Hinata says. "They, uh, don't?"

"Why would anyone go more than once a month?" Kageyama asks, sensibly.

"Right," Hinata says, his face a medically-worrying shade of red. "Um."

Kageyama turns back to the group. Across the room he can see that Tsukishima is also blushing and Yamaguchi is looking extremely awkward.

_Whatever_ , he thinks. He's got other things to worry about.

\--

Kageyama leaves the third stationery shop he's entered in a row, feeling lost and confused. He needs to find stuff, but he doesn't know what kind of stuff. Paper stuff? Pen stuff? He doesn't know.

He heads out of the mall to the line of vending machines he remembers seeing, and buys himself a milk box.

It's while he’s getting the straw in place that he hears someone calling his name.

"Kageyama-kun! Kageya-- ah, oops, sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean-- okay, thank you! Yes! Have a good day! I'll be more careful!"

Kageyama turns to see Yachi, bowing and apologizing to a middle-aged woman who seems a little overwhelmed.

"Yachi-san," Kageyama says, lifting a hand in greeting.

"Kageyama-kun, hello!" she says, making her way over to him and brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"Did you trip?" he asks.

"Yes," she replies, morosely. "But the lady was very nice to me."

Kageyama takes a good look at Yachi. She's helped him a lot with studying, and still does, but he feels like he doesn't really know her, not the way Hinata and Yamaguchi do. Then again, Hinata gets along well with everyone, so it's not fair to compare himself to Hinata, as much as he does so in other areas of his life. And the way Yamaguchi gets along with Yachi is through a lot of blushing, and Kageyama doesn't think that's the kind of getting along he wants to achieve.

But still, he feels a little uncomfortable around her, especially since that time she tried to break up his fight with Hinata. It’s like he might do the wrong thing at any moment and ruin something. What, exactly, he might be ruining, he doesn't know. Kageyama sighs. There's a lot he doesn't know today.

("Don't you mean every day," says a voice in his mind that sounds a lot like Tsukishima.)

"Is everything alright?" Yachi asks, blinking up at him. "You’re crushing your milk box.”

"Oh," Kageyama says. He sighs again, and takes a sip from the box.

"Are you going to the mall?" she asks, peering around him. "I need to go buy some notebooks and pens," she holds up a hand to count off her fingers, "well, refills for my pens. Blue, black, blue-black, that dark green, um, maybe a red if there's some kind of deal."

Kageyama stares at Yachi until she grows visibly nervous. He realizes he needs to speak. "Can I..." he says, hesitant. "Can I come along?"

"You want to join me?" she asks.

Kageyama nods vigorously.

"Oh," she laughs, "Of course! I'm glad, we'll have fun!"

"Okay," he says, relieved.

Kageyama follows Yachi all the way to the first stationery store he'd tried, and hovers by the pens while she flips through some notebooks.

She's comparing two of them when she looks up and asks, "Are you looking for something too, Kageyama-kun? Maybe I can help you?"

"Yeah," he says. "Remember, uh, remember what Takeda-sensei said last week?"

Yachi gives him a blank look, and then suddenly brightens up. "Yes! Oh, so you're looking for scrapbooking things?"

About a week ago, after one too many incidents in the practice gym, Takeda had pulled aside Kageyama and Hinata and had suggested "quiet activities" to "help nurture" their "creative energies" and also, mainly, to learn how to calm down.

"W-w-wh _aat_ ," Hinata had said, turning red and laughing nervously. "We-- in our. Spare time? Hang out?"

"Do you have a problem with me?" Kageyama had asked, feeling both offended and awkward. "We already hang out at school, what's the problem now?"

"Just a suggestion," Takeda had said mildly while Hinata had flapped his mouth open and closed. "Many find artistic endeavours to be therapeutic. Scrapbooking, making collages, these activities could also help strengthen your friendship and relationship with the team."

Behind Takeda, it was obvious that Tsukishima was loitering and eavesdropping. At the words 'scrapbooking' and 'collages' he had given a terrible sharkish grin.

And if someone on the Karasuno volleyball team knew something, then soon the entire team would know. All week long, Kageyama and Hinata had been getting suggestions from the team for what they should make, what colour schemes they should use, all sorts of garbage information Kageyama did not want. The most mortifying was when Shimizu came by his classroom with a stack of photos of the volleyball team.

"Suga asked me to print these out for you," she had said.

"Suga-san, too?" Kageyama had whispered in horror.

"Well, the entire team pitched in, but yes, he's the one who got them organized."

So while Kageyama feels like he suffered a lot, maybe it's worth it now since he doesn't have to explain anything to Yachi. She definitely already knows; Hinata told him that she'd slipped him several sticker sheets between his notes, much like a covert handing over of drug money.

Or, at least, what the two of them imagine a covert handing over of drug money would be like.

"Yes," Kageyama says, eyeing up the rack of greeting cards. _Happy Birthday, friend!_ reads one of them in the brightest colours he's ever had the misfortune of seeing. "I need to get stuff for this afternoon. I'm going over to Hinata's and we're going to start making collages."

Yachi gives him a brilliant smile. "I can help you with that! Let me pick out my notebooks first and then we'll go through everything you might need."

\--

They leave the store only twenty minutes later, and Kageyama's feeling much more confident. In his bag he's got coloured paper, glitter pens, and several sheets of stickers. He'd even found a sheet filled with a cute milk box character, and Yachi helped him pick out one of the stickers to put on the back of his phone.

He's admiring it as they're walking to the exit, and it's there that he sees Kindaichi and Kunimi, sitting on a bench to the side and watching something on one of their phones. Their heads are close together, leaning over the screen, and Kageyama can tell, all the way from where he is, that they're loose and relaxed. As he and Yachi walk by, Kunimi lifts his head and there's something approaching a smile on his face.

Luckily they don't notice him. But Kageyama feels exposed, the most uncomfortable he's ever felt in his own body. He remembers the dream he'd had a while ago. It was stupid to think anything like that could happen in real life.

His staring must be obvious, because there's a tug at his sleeve. He jerks around to see Yachi looking from him to his ex-teammates on the bench.

"Who are they?" she asks.

At first Kageyama is surprised-- surprised that not everyone knows who the members of Seijou are. Then he remembers that Yachi joined the team recently enough that she hadn't seen the game they'd had against each other. It's strange to think that people exist who don't have their lives revolve around the fuck-up that was his last team.

"They're on the volleyball team for Aobajousai," he says, firmly turning away from the bench. "I went to middle school with them," he adds, saying it quickly like maybe that'll make it a less important fact.

"Wow," Yachi says, "so they must be very good!"

"Yeah," Kageyama says. "Those two are, uh, good friends with each other."

"I can tell," she says cheerfully. "It's nice to spend a day out with a friend, isn't it?"

Kageyama almost says, _I wouldn't know_ , before he realizes that he does know. "Yeah," he says, looking at the sticker on his phone again. "Thank you for helping me."

"It wasn't any trouble at all, Kageyama-kun! I got a lot done today too, and this is the kind of thing I enjoy doing." She holds up her own bag. "See? It's fine! I hope you have fun this afternoon at Hinata-kun's. Takeda-sensei said that's what's most important, but I'm sure you'll both make lots of great things too!"

Kageyama nods. "We'll show you at school," he promises, before thinking he might regret it later.

\--

At Hinata's Kageyama spreads out the spoils of his day across the kitchen table like a magician presenting the correct cards. Hinata oohs and aahs appreciatively.

"Yachi-san helped me," Kageyama says proudly.

"Ha! I knew you couldn't have picked out things this awesome on your own!"

"Hey," Kageyama says, a little hurt. He could totally have found the shiny robot stickers Hinata's holding up. "Whatever. Do you have the photos?"

Hinata pats the stack that's next to him and pushes it over to Kageyama's side of the table. "Pick whatever you want," he says. "Let's activate our creative energies."

"You don't have to keep repeating that," Kageyama says absentmindedly. He's flipping through the photos when he notices that Hinata's little sister is standing next to him, peering over the edge of the table.

"Hello," he says awkwardly.

"Natsu!" Hinata says with alarm. "Don't scare my friend like that!"

They start squabbling over something but Kageyama's stuck on what Hinata said. _Yeah_ , he thinks. They're definitely more than teammates by now. He'd never gone over to anyone else's house for any reason in middle school. He swallows, still flipping through the photos but not paying attention to them.

"You should use that one," Natsu says.

When Kageyama looks up he sees that she's settled into the chair at the head of the table, between himself and Hinata. Whatever argument they had been having has settled quietly enough.

"I like his hair!" she says, holding a hand out over the photo at the top of Kageyama's stack. It's a photo of Sugawara setting, probably taken during a match from the previous year.

"It is nice, isn't it?" Kageyama says.

"You think Suga-san's hair is nice?" Hinata asks.

Kageyama shrugs. "Yeah, it's an interesting colour."

Hinata looks at him, and then at his sister. He squirms in his seat, the way he used to when he wanted to ask a question about homework but Tsukishima was the one tutoring them.

"Yours is an interesting colour too," Kageyama says. He turns towards Natsu, "and yours."

She grins at him, but Hinata looks mortified and yelps, "You can't say things like that!"

"Shouyou please don't shout at your friend," Hinata's mother says, ducking into the kitchen. "Will you be staying for dinner, Kageyama-kun?"

Kageyama straightens in his seat. "Oh, no, thank you, Hinata-san."

"Maybe next time, then?" she asks, smiling.

Kageyama nods stiffly, focus shifting back to the table. Hinata's humming something that sounds suspiciously like the Dateko chant as he cuts out shapes from the coloured paper. Natsu's steadily spreading sparkles she must have already owned all over the table. Kageyama doesn't think that's where the sparkles are supposed to go.

He takes the glue stick and goes over the photo with it, then dips the photo into the lake of sparkles on the table. He thinks he's getting the hang of this.


	3. total devastator, baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [title (yt link)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta1xEMypk2Q)

Tsukishima is running.

Yamaguchi is also running, a good five metres ahead of Tsukishima, school bag bouncing against his back and nervously glancing over his shoulder. Tanaka and Nishinoya are behind Tsukishima and gaining, almost making enough noise between the two of them to drown out Tsukishima’s thoughts.

Tsukishima’s thoughts are like this: how is it that an absolutely insufferable crush on a person still does not let up when the person in question is being insufferable? And, why were they running?

“Yamaguchi!” Tsukishima tries to yell, except it comes out with a wheeze. “Why are we running?” He doesn’t ask, _how come I can’t stop liking you?_

“Tsukkiiiii,” Yamaguchi wails back. “I’m running away from the repercussions of my actions! Also, please forgive me!”

And with that, Yamaguchi puts on a final burst of speed that proves the extra effort he put into practices paid off. He’s made it to the school gate by the time Tsukishima gives up. Within seconds Tsukishima’s swarmed by the two most annoying second-years on the team.

Tanaka’s tackled him to the ground, and Nishinoya’s looking off into the distance, hands on his hips.

“Ryuu,” Nishinoya says softly, holding a finger to his cheek as if to wipe away a tear. “I’m so proud. Our kouhai will carry on the proud tradition, long after we are gone.”

Tanaka cackles.

Tsukishima stares up at the sky and wonders if it’s worth asking. The silence that Nishinoya and Tanaka aren’t interrupting is starting to feel meaningful. He sighs, closing his eyes. “What are you talking about?” he asks. “What tradition, and who?”

Tanaka squeezes his knees together, pressing into Tsukishima’s sides and startling him into opening his eyes again. Nishinoya’s crouching down now, and inspecting his fingernails.

“Senpai,” Tsukishima adds.

“Oh!” Tanaka says while waving his hands, “say it again!”

“Again!” Nishinoya chimes in.

Tsukishima considers his predicament. The easiest way out is through flattery. “Tanaka-senpai,” he says, “Nishinoya-senpai.”

Tanaka leans forward, the shift in his position putting more pressure on Tsukishima's stomach. He pats Tsukishima's cheek. “Isn't it nice when you're a good kouhai?”

“Good behaviour gets rewarded,” Nishinoya sing-songs. “Yamaguchi-kun just let it slip he has a crush on Yachi-san! You can imagine how proud we are.”

Tsukishima's heart picks up speed, but he gives a smirk, keeps his eyelids lowered. “That's it?” he says. “That's what got you both so worked up? Kinda pathetic.”

“Oi!” Tanaka says, scrubbing his hand through Tsukishima's hair. “A little respect!”

“You should get off, _Tanaka-senpai_ ,” Tsukishima says as sweetly as he can. “People may think something's happening.”

Tanaka laughs, but finally gets up. “You wish, squirt,” he says.

Tsukishima's too busy sitting up and smoothing down his clothes to point out how tall he is. Plus, Nishinoya gave him a powerful slap on the back while he could still reach, and Tsukishima is trying to get his breath back.

\--

Tsukishima texts Yamaguchi on his walk home, which he is doing all alone because _someone_ couldn’t handle a couple of over-enthusiastic and annoying-as-hell second-years.

>>you left me to suffer, yamaguchi

>>sorry tsukki!!!!! :( :( :(  
>>i’ll buy you a slice of strawberry shortcake this weekend ok

Tsukishima is embarrassed at how the message makes him feel. He ignores it.

>>thank you  
>>why were you running, was it really that bad? tanaka-san and nishinoya-san seem to like you, i think they’re proud

>>THEY WANT ME TO BE LIKE THEM, TSUKKI, I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE THAT

>>??

>>//o\\\ they think i like yachi-san the way they like shimizu-senpai  
>>i don’t want to be like that  
>>WAIT, TSUKKI, ARE THEY STILL THERE? DON’T TELL THEM I SAID THAT

Tsukishima snorts a laugh and almost walks into a tree. “Sorry,” he says, absentmindedly patting the bark.

Part of him wants to ask more, really pry into the issue until he has all the details on _how_ exactly Yamaguchi likes Yachi. But that’s not really how he does things, and he knows he’ll regret it if he doesn’t like the answer.

>>no, they’re not here, i’ll never tell them you said you didn’t want to be just like your senpai

Yamaguchi replies with a string of emojis. Tsukishima watches them flash across his screen before pocketing his phone.

\--

At night Tsukishima lies in bed trying to fall asleep. For some reason he keeps thinking about, of all things, earlier in the day when Tanaka had tackled him. Specifically, he keeps thinking about that weight on his torso, the dig of knees into his sides.

 _No, no, no, no_ , he thinks. There are lines he has to draw in life, and while he may have already crossed the line of fantasizing about his best friend, he's not about to cross that line for _Tanaka_.

"Not worth it," he hisses to himself, when twisting and turning around under his sheets makes no difference. "Fuck," he whispers, then gives up and gets out of bed.

In the dark he can make out a little blinking of light on his desk. He puts on his glasses and reaches for the light, finds his phone. There's a message from Hinata there, and Tsukishima feels his face warm at that. He's still not really used to having someone else know, and he's embarrassed to find that it's been kind of nice.

>>kageyama thinks beef is better than chicken, can you tell him it's NOT????

Tsukishima squints at his screen. What the fuck.

>>what the fuck

>>DON'T BE RUDE  
>>R U DYING?

Tsukishima is even more confused.

>>?? no? i'm texting you...

>>i mean because it's LATE you woke me up why are u texing me when ti's so LATE i sent that text like 324 hours ago  
>>you need to sleep to get bethter at volleyball!!!!  
>>ᕦ(▀̿ ̿ -▀̿ ̿ )つ  
>>that's u if you were sleeping lol  
>>bc sunglasses are bed time glasses

Tsukishima puts his phone down in exasperation and crawls back into bed.

\--

It hasn't escaped Tsukishima's notice that Yamaguchi is overworking himself. He's been yawning a lot, and his eyes keep going out of focus during downtime. Like now, when they're all supposed to be studying (but they've devolved into chatting and playing phone games), Tsukishima is watching as Yamaguchi's head nods, lower, lower, lower, until he slumps forward onto the table in front of him and sleeps.

Tsukishima's gaze skips over the way his hair falls, the spread of his fingers on the tabletop. He lowers his eyelids before he gives himself away, bends his head down, turns, looks up again, only to be faced with Hinata chewing at his lip while furiously stabbing at his phone screen with his index finger.

Next to him, Kageyama is showing Yachi a bunch of papers.

"I made this for Kozume-san--"

"Just say 'Kenma,' he's okay with that," Hinata says, not looking up from his phone.

Kageyama blinks at the stiff card stock he's holding. "I... yes, for him," he acquiesces. "See, I used that stamp you picked out."

"Very cute!" Yachi says. "I didn't know you two were good friends too!"

"We're not," Kageyama says. Tsukishima notes the regretful tone of his voice. "I just really admire his setting."

"Wow!" Yachi says, nodding. "Wow."

Hinata finally looks up from his phone and makes a face at Tsukishima. Tsukishima rolls his eyes.

"Kenma says it's weird," Hinata says. "But he showed the picture to Kuroo-san and Kuroo-san got jealous, so Kenma's okay with that."

Kageyama nods like this is a perfectly normal and reasonable thing to have happened.

"I'm going to make one for Kenma too!" Hinata says. "It doesn't make sense if he only gets one from Kageyama. Hey," he's staring right at Tsukishima, "what's that weird face for? Do you want one too?"

"I'll pass," Tsukishima drawls.

"Great," Hinata says, "I'll make it black and orange, so that you never forget what team you're on."

"I'm not likely to, with the way you're always shouting," Tsukishima points out, but he gives up on arguing against receiving a shitty collage.

Yamaguchi mumbles something in his sleep and shifts in his seat.

"Shhhhh," Hinata says, glaring at everyone around the table. "Don't wake up Yamaguchi-kun!"

"Uh," Kageyama says, and Yachi giggles when Hinata swings his glare in Kageyama's direction.

Tsukishima stares at him, at the stupid finger he's holding in front of his mouth, the way he's exaggeratedly frowning, the way his hair-- the, uh, the light falls-- his hair is so bright?

 _Shit_ , Tsukishima thinks.

\--

Liking Yamaguchi makes sense. Having _thoughts_ about Tanaka also makes unfortunate sense-- he is, after all, a hormonal teenager and Tanaka had been straddling him. Sometimes minds wander and that’s regrettable, but he can’t really be held accountable for it.

“Hi!” Hinata says, cheerful. He slams his books onto the desk in front of him and beams.

Tsukishima grunts.

“Hello,” Yamaguchi says. He smiles.

 _Why_ , Tsukishima thinks, affronted. Attacked on all sides, really.

“Where’s Kageyama-kun?” Yachi asks.

They’re meeting during their lunch break to practice English vocabulary and make up for yesterday’s slacking off. It’s part of the eleven-step plan that Yachi and Yamaguchi have developed to keep the team idiots up-to-date on schoolwork so they never have to go through the pre-training camp misery again.

Tsukishima thinks it’s a pipe dream, but it’s charming to see people have hope.

“He said he was buying some milk,” Hinata says. “But that was a while ago.”

Yamaguchi looks concerned. “Should we go look for him?”

“You don’t think he got trapped in the vending machine, do you?” Yachi asks, paling.

Hinata gasps, his eyes going wide. “We have to rescue him!”

“Pretty sure he’s skipping,” Tsukishima says, with the aim of nipping this absurd idea in the bud.

The effect these words have is unexpected and alarming.

“What,” Hinata says, suddenly completely still. His tone is calm but the look in his eyes is chilling. “Does Kageyama-kun think he can risk that?”

“Uh,” Tsukishima says, his neck feeling hot. He’s uncomfortably reminded of when Yamaguchi had him by the collar, face twisted with emotion, yelling about pride. He’s tried his best to not think about that moment too much since but, well, the mind wanders.

Tsukishima clears his throat, shifts in his seat. “Why don’t you all get started and I’ll go look for him.”

Everyone at the table looks surprised but Yamaguchi recovers the fastest.

“Good luck, Tsukki!” he chirps, clearly unaffected by the bizarre power Hinata is still emanating. 

“Thank you,” Yachi says, also immune.

\--

Tsukishima finds Kageyama by the gym within five minutes because Kageyama is simple and only cares about volleyball.

“Are you skipping tutoring?” Tsukishima asks, even though he already knows. He leans against the gym wall.

Kageyama freezes, letting the volleyball he’d been tossing into the air hit the ground. The sound jerks him back into action, scrambling after the ball.

“No,” he says, very petulantly, cradling the ball in his arms.

 _What does Hinata see in this guy_ , Tsukishima thinks to himself. He’s briefly wondered this about Yamaguchi and Yachi too, but the answer there is easy. Yachi is cute and cheerful and friendly. Maybe Kageyama’s mother would use those words to describe him, but--

Kageyama blows at the hair that’s fallen into his eyes, adjusts his collar with a finger, palms the volleyball with the other hand. The sun shines high above them, too hot. There’s a healthy colour to his cheeks.

 _Fuck this_ , Tsukishima thinks.

\--

“I found him,” Tsukishima says, Kageyama sulking behind him.

Hinata gives a sly smile. “Here he comes! Did you give up because you knew I’d beat you no matter what?”

“He was tossing his volleyball around,” Tsukishima says when all Kageyama does is glare back at Hinata.

Hinata leaps from his seat to point an accusatory finger. “What! Not fair! I’m trying to be responsible here!”

Yamaguchi reaches across the table to pat Hinata on the arm. Despite his long arms he still has to stand a little to do so. “Um, I’m sure he must have just forgotten. Come on, sit back down.”

Hinata settles back, grumbling. Kageyama sniffs. He pointedly sits down across from Yachi and next to Yamaguchi.

Tsukishima looks at the configuration of their seats. “Well,” he says, “seems like there’s no room for me.” He cocks an eyebrow, looking unconcerned. Inside, he is very relieved.

The look on Yamaguchi’s face is practically criminal.

“Or I’ll find a chair,” Tsukishima mumbles.

He ends up squeezing himself next to Yachi, as far away from everyone else. It’s the only place that is safe for him.

\--

An oasis. An island of peace, no inner turmoil. That’s what Yachi is.

 _It really does make sense for Yamaguchi to like her_ , Tsukishima thinks rather generously. He may never have a chance with Yamaguchi himself, but at least Tsukishima can rest assured that he has good taste. What a peaceful person who would never be the cause of embarrassing feelings for Tsukishima.

At afternoon practice, Yachi hands out some water bottles. 

“Oh!” she says, as she holds one out for Tsukishima. “Yamaguchi-kun told me you liked dinosaurs, and I found some stickers today, so I put it on the cap for you. See?” She angles the bottle so that he can see the sparkly T-Rex. 

His heart does a funny thing, his stomach does a flip. He shuts his eyes. “Thanks, Yachi-san,” he manages to grit out.

He opens his eyes only to see her earnest smile.

“I, uh, have to go,” he mutters. “Thanks.”

Tsukishima accepts this as fate, a thing he had never believed in before.


	4. make a big noise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [title (yt link)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk)

Yamaguchi stares at Kageyama and Hinata. Then he turns to look around himself, as if maybe he will find comprehension by the school gate, or up in the trees, or in Tsukishima’s extremely exasperated expression.

“You want me to what?” he asks.

“Okay, so,” Hinata starts.

“We need to prove who’s better at walking,” Kageyama finishes.

Hinata inclines his head in a nod, and adds, “It’s going to be me.”

“No, it’s not,” Kageyama says, and Yamaguchi has to admit, this is probably the most civil argument he’s seen them have. They haven’t even gotten physical yet.

“Okay,” he interrupts before they can continue, “but how do you prove who’s better at walking? Speed? At some point, isn’t it running?”

“Don’t get too philosophical on them,” Tsukishima mutters and Yamaguchi stifles a laugh, because he is trying to be a better model of behaviour.

“We asked Yachi-san yesterday,” Kageyama says, glaring at Tsukishima. “She’s a helpful and friendly person.” The irony of Kageyama saying this is clearly lost on him.

“You asked Yachi-san,” Yamaguchi repeats. “Yesterday.”

Hinata punches the air. “Yeah! She said there’s a thing called racewalking, so that’s what we’re going to do! So, will you be the judge?”

“Why didn’t you ask Yachi-san to do it yesterday?” Yamaguchi asks.

Hinata gives him a solemn look and claps Yamaguchi’s upper arm. “She’s a busy person, Yamaguchi-kun. Homework to do, team manager things to do, Kageyama to tutor.”

“Hinata to tutor,” Kageyama says.

“Me to tutor,” Hinata adds, reluctantly. “You know how it is.”

Yamaguchi gives him a pained smile. “Yes, because I tutor you too.”

“See?” Hinata says. “So you get it.”

Yamaguchi _does_ get it. She has a lot to do, and on top of that, she worries herself nearly sick over her responsibilities. It’s one of the reasons he tries to help her out as much as he can, especially when she needs to reach high places. He can do that.

“Alright,” he says. “So what are the rules?”

After a hilarious slap fight (“Hinata, do you ever _stop_ ,” Tsukishima barks, pulling him away from Kageyama), a failed demonstration, and, finally, a look at the Wikipedia article for racewalking, they determine that the only two rules are, essentially:

1\. One foot must always be touching the ground.  
2\. The supporting leg has to stay straight until the body has passed over it.

“People get paid for this?” Yamaguchi mutters. “I don’t know how I’m going to keep track of both of you. Tsukki, help me out.”

“Uh,” Kageyama says, at the same time as Hinata says, “Sure.”

Kageyama gives Hinata a surprised look, then shrugs. Yamaguchi’s also surprised but doesn’t say anything. He’d thought there was a reason they were asking him and not Tsukishima, but maybe whatever reservations they had were more flexible than expected.

“Excuse me,” Tsukishima says, “I haven’t even agreed yet.”

All three of them turn to look at Tsukishima. Yamaguchi pouts. Tsukishima closes his eyes and sighs.

“Fine.”

Hinata cheers and Kageyama grunts.

"Alright, alright," Yamaguchi says, "let's pick a starting place. And a route. Um..."

Hinata points towards the doors of the gym. "We always race to the doors, so we'll just go along this way," he gestures to the worn dirt path in the grass of the school grounds, "and over that weird bridge thing, to the doors."

"Why _do_ we have that bridge there," Yamaguchi says.

"Here," Kageyama says, holding a stick.

"Did you find that on the _ground_ , Kageyama-kun?" Hinata asks.

Kageyama gives him a disgusted look. "Yeah, I did." He draws a line in the dirt with it. "There, that's the starting line."

Hinata inspects it, crouching by it and angling his head from side to side. "Yeah, that's crooked. Were you going to cheat? Give me a longer distance to walk?"

"What the fuck, Hinata," Kageyama says.

Hinata gasps.

"Is this ever going to end?" Tsukishima asks. It is, presumably, a rhetorical question.

"Look," Yamaguchi says, pointing to the path leading from the school gate to the school doors, the one that they are, in fact, standing on, "if we just use the edge of the cement path here, that's a guaranteed straight edge."

"Oh," Kageyama says. "Right."

"Wow," Hinata breathes out. He nods to himself, looking impressed. "That's called using your brains."

"Save me," Tsukishima whispers.

Yamaguchi claps his hands and tries to speak over the three of them. "Okay, okay, we're good to go! Hinata-kun, Kageyama-kun, line up!"

They both rush to the edge of the path, Hinata before the line, and Kageyama in front of the line. They squabble a bit more over how to go about it, and finally ( _finally_ ) they settle on the front foot right ahead of the line.

Yamaguchi stations himself on Hinata's side, and Tsukishima on Kageyama's side.

"Let's do this properly," Yamaguchi says. "On the count of three."

"Is that exactly when you say 'three' or are you going to say 'go' after that?" Hinata asks.

"I, uh. Good question." Yamaguchi thinks. "I'll say 'go' after the three. Okay? One! Two! Three! _Go!_ "

They start to... well, walk, rather quickly. Considering it's a race, the start is pretty anti-climatic.

"King!" Tsukishima shouts, getting way more into this than Yamaguchi had thought he would. "A foot on the ground at all times! What's this? What's this? That's loss of contact!"

"Shut _up_ ," Kageyama growls. He flips up both his middle fingers.

"You're bending your supporting leg too much, Hinata-kun," Yamaguchi says, trying to get into the spirit of it. "Uh, but, good job, you know."

"Thanks,” Hinata says, his arms comically pumping back and forth as he holds himself back from running.

"That's favouritism," Kageyama says, squinting over at Hinata. "Don't do that, Hinata."

"It's not my fault you only know how to piss off your own judge, Kageyama."

"This is definitely the stupidest thing I've ever seen," Tsukishima says. "You two should do this every day."

When they finally make it to the end of their race, the gym doors burst wide open, revealing the second and third-years, most of them clapping and cheering. Daichi looks so resigned, Yamaguchi feels sorry for him.

"You did it!" Tanaka shouts. "Whatever the fuck you were trying to do! Amazing!"

"I had my money on Kageyama-kun," Sugawara says. "Looks like I hit jackpot. Hey everybody, time to pay up."

"But Hinata-kun won," Yamaguchi says.

Hinata puffs up. "Yeah! Hey Kageyama, tell them!"

"I still beat you at actual running, dumbass."

"We're fifty-fifty on that, so don't change the facts!"

"Wait, wait," Ennoshita says, "what do you mean Hinata-kun won?"

Yamaguchi doesn't really know how to explain a race to someone he assumes already knows how a race works without also sounding condescending. "He came to the end line first?" he says, suddenly unsure if that _is_ how one wins a race.

The group in the gym stare at the four of them.

Finally Asahi speaks up. "They were trying to... _get_ to the finish line?"

"Yes?" Yamaguchi says. How do races work? Maybe he never really knew.

"Then why were they moving like that," Nishinoya whispers. "It was kinda weird."

Tsukishima starts to laugh then. "It really was, wasn't it?" he says. He pushes past the group, heading into the gym. "I'm getting changed for practice."

"See?" Daichi half-shouts. "Practice! That's what we're all supposed to be doing right now!"

Yachi and Shimizu come along at just that moment, Shimizu holding up a clipboard and explaining something on it. They come to a stop at the doors, seeing the commotion.

Yachi takes one look at the Hinata, Kageyama, and Yamaguchi, and comes to some sort of miraculous understanding. "Oh, did you do the racewalking today, Hinata-kun? How did it go?"

Yamaguchi almost sobs with relief as Hinata takes on the task of explaining everything.

\--

Since he's known Tsukishima, Yamaguchi has always been aware of how smart he is. He understands things in one go, sometimes even in half a go, as if through some form of intuition he catches onto the entire topic.

"It's just logic, I guess," Tsukishima says, every time Yamaguchi asks how he understands something so quickly.

Like when they were learning geometry many years before, and their teacher had explained that the inside angles of a triangle add up to 180°, Tsukishima had figured out that a quadrilateral would add up to 360° almost immediately.

"But how," Yamaguchi had asked, and Tsukishima had pointed out that a quadrilateral is made up of two triangles, so he was simply adding two 180°s.

But what Yamaguchi had wanted to really know was, how did Tsukishima's mind make that leap? Before the teacher had even pointed it out, he'd just, on his own, stared at a square and the answer came to him?

It's endlessly frustrating, trying to keep up with someone who doesn't even realize they're rushing ahead.

\--

The five of them are crowded around Hinata's kitchen table. Yamaguchi is sitting between Tsukishima and Yachi, which means he is spending a lot of his energy making sure he doesn't accidentally brush up against her. This means pressing himself close to Tsukishima. Tsukishima is strangely fidgety but Yamaguchi has no sympathy right now.

Hinata holds a fist to his mouth and gives a fake cough. "Ahem, ahem. If I could have everyone's attention, please," he says.

"No," Tsukishima says. "Don't bother."

Yamaguchi stifles a giggle. Kageyama closes his eyes and sighs. Yachi gives Hinata an encouraging thumbs up.

_What a set we make_ , Yamaguchi thinks, not unhappily.

Hinata bulldozes over Tsukishima's comment with surprising ease. "As the _oldest_ of the group," here he flashes Kageyama a superior look, "it's my job to make sure that the _youngest_ stays on top of his studies."

"It's alright, Hinata," Yamaguchi says, "I'm sure Kageyama won't skip again."

"It's just not fair," Hinata mutters.

The empathy Yamaguchi feels at the comment is sharp. He leans away from Tsukishima when he says, "Yachi-san and I thought it would be nice to compare all our English notes. That way we can learn from each other."

"Wait," Kageyama says suddenly, with his scariest angry face. "We _are_ going to do collages, right?"

"Not right now," Yachi says gently. "But we can do some when we're done studying. It'll be a reward."

This seems to appease Kageyama as he slumps back into his chair. "Oh, okay. I brought everything with me just in case."

Yamaguchi is still, quite frankly, a little confused about how intensely Kageyama has taken to making collages. But it seems like a good thing. "That's right," he says, reaching into his backpack. "So, uh, here are my notes."

Yachi pulls hers out. Yamaguchi has always admired them for how neat and clear they are. And pretty. They're very pretty. His own notes are a little messy, but they're still quite thorough.

Kageyama's and Hinata's notes are alright. They've definitely been learning some tricks from Yachi.

Tsukishima's notes are...

"So," Kageyama says, leaning over the table to inspect the notes. "Tsukishima has no study skills."

Tsukishima sends a poisonous glare in his direction.

Yamaguchi blinks at the notes. He's always _known_ Tsukishima's notes were kind of barren. Neat, because Tsukishima is a neat person, but he's realizing they're neat in the way a minimalist room is neat. He hadn't really realized that until they were juxtaposed with Yachi's notes.

"Tsukki," Yamaguchi says. "Huh, it's true."

" _What_ ," Tsukishima says, pulling his notes towards himself.

"Don't worry." Yamaguchi pats his arm. "It's because you're so smart. You probably just remember everything."

"Is that _math_ ," Hinata asks, squinting. "In the middle of your English notebook?"

"Look," Tsukishima says, but doesn't continue.

"Some minds," Yachi says, "just make these amazing leaps." She nods wisely.

"That's what _I_ was thinking the other day!" Yamaguchi exclaims. "Wow, yeah, don't you think?"

"That's enough," Tsukishima snaps, but Yamaguchi can tell he's embarrassed. "I'm not the one who's leading this tutoring group, that stopped being my responsibility a while ago."

"Right, right," Yamaguchi says, looking over at Yachi. "I guess we should start? The two of you have an English test coming up soon, right?"

Both Hinata and Kageyama nod miserably, and the studying begins. Yachi shows them the study plan she'd made for her own last test, and textbooks and notebooks get passed around for cross-referencing. Yamaguchi is kind of pleased to find that he learns something new from both Hinata's and Kageyama's notes. When he tells them so, they both get strangely bashful.

"Well, you know," Hinata says, looking to the side and rubbing the back of his neck. "Like Suga-san said, I just have to pay attention in class."

Kageyama scowls at this for some reason, but doesn't say a word.

In all the excitement, Tsukishima's notebook gets ignored.

"It's fine," Tsukishima sniffs. "It's better this way. I have my own system and none of you would have understood it."

"Aw, don't be down about it, Tsukki," Yamaguchi teases.

"Are we done now," Kageyama interrupts. His eyes are bright and his body is coiled up like he's going to leap at any second.

Yachi finishes writing something down with a flourish. "Yes!" she says. "Or, at least, I'm done." She gives everyone around the table a concerned look. "Is everyone else done?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Hinata says, shoving his worksheets into his bag. "We're done, we're done."

Kageyama dumps the rest of the contents of his bag onto the table.

Yamaguchi sneezes into his sleeve.

"Are those sparkles?" Tsukishima asks.

"Yeah," Kageyama grunts. "I think they add something extra."

"Like, _bam!_ " Hinata comments. He makes little explosion motions with his hands.

Yachi nods. "You should see how he good he's gotten at using them."

Yamaguchi grins and nudges Tsukishima in the side. "Wanna try this out too?"


	5. yes i’m in the zone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [title (yt link)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeIJmciN8mo)

Yachi looks into the full-length mirror she found in the storage room. She points at her reflection.

"Hey little girl," she says in her deepest, gruffest voice. She wiggles her hand and glares. "You don't need that thumb, do you?"

"Oh no," she says in a falsetto. "Not my thumb!"

She growls. "That's what I thought!" She drops to the ground in the kind of crouch she's seen wrestlers use on television. "Too dependent on your opposable thumbs!"

_Wait, that doesn't make sense_ , Yachi thinks. Wouldn't the bad guy also be using his thumbs? What if she ends up giving the bad guy an existential crisis? She's going to have to workshop this scenario.

Suddenly light spills into the cramped storage space, reflecting off the mirror and shining right into Yachi's eyes.

"Aah!" she cries, falling to the floor from her crouch.

"Yachi-san!" a voice like Kageyama's says. "Are you alright? I heard voices."

"Me too!" pipes up another voice, Hinata's. "Let's fight whoever it is, Kageyama. Whack! Pow!"

Yachi twists to face the door, blinking, her eyes finally adjusting to the light. She sees that, despite his brave words, Hinata is hiding behind Kageyama. They are both looking around the small room curiously.

"It's just me," she says weakly.

"Woah," Hinata says. "You sounded really scary!"

"R-really? That's good, that's good." Yachi clambers up and dusts herself off. "I want to be tougher, so I'm creating scenarios where I need to be strong."

"That was very specific," Kageyama says. "The bit about the thumbs."

"Yachi has a great imagination!" Hinata has finally made it out from behind Kageyama and is inspecting the volleyballs in the cart. "Hey, do you need to bring these out? We're here to get another net, but we can help with that."

"I, um, you know, had to entertain myself a lot," Yachi mumbles, embarrassed at the compliment. "Oh no, I don't need help with that, I'm actually done all the manager duties until clean-up. I'll help you with the net, though, they're always a bit tangled."

When they get out of the storage closet, Kageyama and Hinata sprinting with the net held between them like a banner, Shimizu motions for Yachi to come over. Even from all the across the gym, Yachi admires the graceful way her hand moves through a wave, the serene stillness in the way she holds herself.

Yachi checks the hair clip she has to make sure it's in place and walks briskly over to Shimizu. She has to show that she does not spend all her time daydreaming! She's very serious about being manager, and it's true that sometimes she lets her mind wander away from her, like in the storage closet, maybe, but that is not always the case, after all, she is Villager B and Villager B, as proven, can fight too--

"Watch out," Shimizu says in her soft, reassuring voice, and easily steps in front of Yachi to catch a volleyball.

"Sorry!" Daichi calls out, and, "Thanks!" when Shimizu throws it back to him.

"Are you alright?" she asks Yachi.

In truth, Yachi is a little dazed and ashamed. She was so caught up in not daydreaming that she ended up daydreaming about not daydreaming, which then caused some trouble for Shimizu. "Yes," she says quietly, "thank you, again. I feel like you're always helping me out and saving me, Shimizu-senpai, and all I do is cause trouble for you."

This seems to startle a laugh out of Shimizu, though Yachi does not really see how her incompetence is a laughing matter when it is much more of a crying matter.

"Don't worry about it, Yachi," she says, while smiling _right at Yachi_. It is like standing below a waterfall of joy, or something. Yachi has never been near a waterfall. "Maybe I do save you from stray balls, but it's only natural for me to look out for you. As for helping, I don't think you fully understand how much you've helped me and this team." She's still smiling when she delivers the killer bit: " _Your_ team. This is definitely your team by now."

Yachi knows this on an intellectual level. It's just that... to hear it from Shimizu...

"Th-thank you!" she sobs. "I'm still very scared about next year!"

Shimizu gives her a worried look. "Scared? About what?"

Yachi sniffs. She hadn't meant to actually say that part out loud, but being around Shimizu feels both so safe and exciting that she feels freer in some ways. "I'm going to be the only manager unless we get some first-years," she says, voice low. "And there will be no third-years to help out, so anything I haven't learnt by the time you leave," her eyes widen in horror, "means knowledge that's lost forever!"

Shimizu gives Yachi a long considerate look, and then a small secretive smile. "You have my phone number, right?"

Shimizu's phone number is afforded the same level of care as Yachi would give to a rare gem. Because it _is_ a rare gem. She nods.

"Then the solution is simple, isn't it?" Shimizu says. "You can text or call me if you don't know what to do."

Yachi manages to say, past her blushing, "Won't you be busy? I don't want to inconvenience you."

"I trust you," Shimizu says simply. "I will always make time for the manager of the Karasuno Volleyball Club."

Yachi swallows past the lump in her throat and croaks out, as she bows, "Thank you, Shimizu-senpai! Thank you!"

"You know though, I'm really not that worried about you," Shimizu says.

Yachi blinks up at Shimizu who smiles the same secretive smile from before.

"You get along really well with the other first-years," she says, nodding towards where Kageyama and Hinata are still struggling to get the net up while Yamaguchi hovers nearby, seemingly torn between helping out and laughing along with Tsukishima. "Much better than I did with the team members in my year back then."

Yachi gives a shocked look. "But you _do_ get along with them!"

"Yes," Shimizu says, her head cocked. "And I am pretty close to them too, but I don't think it's the same. I see the five of you spending quite a bit of time together, studying and such."

Yachi nods. She looks back at where the net was being set-up and sees that Yamaguchi and Tsukishima have joined in to help out. Her best guess is that Yamaguchi gave in first and Tsukishima followed easily.

Shimizu grins. "It helps that you have a very friendly personality too. But I think saying it's because of that is short-selling your friendship. Now," she says, lightly clapping her hands, "do you want to help me do serves for the second-years?"

"Yes!" Yachi says. She doesn't say, 'I can't serve as well as you,' because she thinks, maybe, it doesn't really matter that much.

\--

"Who's bright idea was this," Tsukishima grouses. Yachi looks up from the large light-up mall map to see him sneering at it.

Everyone stops inspecting the map and thinks deeply on this.

"I don't remember," Yamaguchi says.

Kageyama shakes his head and Hinata says, "Me neither."

"I thought it was yours, Tsukishima-kun," Yachi says, blinking up at him. "Weren't you looking for a birthday present for your brother?"

He flushes, but quickly points out, "I only mentioned that after Kageyama and Hinata said they wanted more stickers."

"I go where Tsukki goes!" Yamaguchi says, grinning proudly. "Most of the time."

"It doesn't matter," Kageyama says. "Let's go to the stationery store first." He presses a finger against the map, pointing to the store Yachi remembers going to with him.

Tsukishima's eyes narrow. "No."

Kageyama's eyes narrow too. "Yes. Get your brother a pen."

"A pen," Tsukishima says, nodding along, but very sarcastically. Yachi can tell.

"Nothing wrong with a pen," Yamaguchi points out. "Personally? I love pens."

Hinata stares between the three of them, looking stupefied. Then he stares cluelessly at Yachi. His mouth is a bit open. Yachi pushes his chin up.

"We could go to a bookstore," she says, pointing to a store on the third floor map. "There's stationery there, and... pens. Other present ideas. And juice! I know that place has a coffee shop."

"Ooh, juice," Hinata says. "Yeah, I want juice."

Kageyama gives him a look of absolute betrayal. "Don't you want the _good_ stickers? What if they don't have good stickers there?"

"I'm sure the stickers there will be fine," Hinata says, patting him on the arm. "Have you even been there?" he asks, as he starts leading Kageyama over to the escalators. Everyone follows suit, with Yachi bringing up the rear, trying not to laugh.

\--

After the bookstore, which was a successful visit for everyone, they stop by the stationery shop anyway.

"I'm not the one who has to be taught what 'indoor voices' means every day," Kageyama says to Hinata, squinting at the price tag on the specialty paper. He pulls his hand away like it's been burnt and Yachi nods in sympathy.

"Um, okay, whatever, Kageyama," Hinata says. "Live your life on mute."

"Ooh," Yachi says, and Yamaguchi says, "That was weirdly deep."

They turn to each other and nod, impressed.

"Thank you," Hinata says, a regal hand pressed to his chest.

"If I run headfirst into that wall, how much of this conversation will I forget?" Tsukishima asks.

"Not enough," Kageyama mutters, and Tsukishima snorts.

Yachi's finding it hard to hold back any longer. "It's so nice to see everyone getting along!"

The four of them turn to look at her. It's a bit intimidating, but Yachi tries to remind herself that she has seen them all at their weakest, namely after Daichi’s diving drills.

She squeaks.

"Ah!" Hinata says, and she can see him tearing up. "We're a _team_ , Yachi!"

That breaks whatever strange spell had fallen over them. Kageyama clicks his tongue and goes back to looking at the paper, though Yachi can see the back of his neck is red. Tsukishima pushes his glasses up and mumbles something about how _obviously, they're a team_ , before turning away to go further into the store, though Hinata trails after him.

Yamaguchi gives Yachi a grin. "Were you worried about that too, manager?"

It's meant to be teasing, but Yachi finds she likes being called manager. It's nice to know how she belongs, that her role, while different, is important too. She smiles back.

"Lately, not very much," she says. "I guess it felt like the right moment to point it out, though. Did you..." she trails off, then angles her head towards the entrance of the shop. "Did you see the photo booth? Do you think everyone would want to take a picture?"

Yamaguchi laughs. "I'm sure if you ask, everyone will agree."

\--

"Okay, so it's a tight squeeze, but we're all in here!" Yachi says, trying to look around the booth. She's crouching in front of Kageyama, near the curtain.

"Sit _still_ ," Tsukishima says, a hand on Hinata's head. Tsukishima's been unsuccessfully squeezed between Kageyama and Yamaguchi on the bench. He's got at least part of each leg on top of theirs. Hinata's crouching in front of him and constantly squirming.

Hinata slaps at the hand on his head and screams. Tsukishima leans over to flick him on the forehead.

Yamaguchi's in the far corner, hand covering his mouth. From the way his shoulders are shaking, Yachi thinks he's trying to not laugh out loud.

Behind her Kageyama has his eyes closed and face screwed up in concentration. She has no one idea what he's concentrating on.

"Is everyone ready?" she asks.

"No," Tsukishima says, brushing at his bangs and adjusting his glasses, having finally let go of Hinata's hair.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Hinata says, turning his bright eyes on her. His hair looks like a dandelion puff. Yachi tries to pat part of it down.

"Yes," Kageyama intones. "How many copies will we get? I can make a collage of it."

"I gave up on my hair a long time ago," Yamaguchi says cheerfully.

Yachi says, "Smile!"


End file.
